Shugo Chara: Mirror
by The Story Sphere
Summary: Taking place a few days after Rikka's egg was born, this story follows a few new characters along with Amu and the gang. It's a bit darker then the original storyline. Watch as events unfold that you never thought possible!
1. Where are you from again?

**Note* **This story is told from Amu's and a new character's (Derrick's) POV. Generally, each chapter will stay true to one character, and it will be obvious who is currently the focus. Also, this story is rather lengthy, but enough thought has been put into it to keep it entertaining. I look forward to your feedback.

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><p>"AMU-CHAN!" Ran shouted in her ear that morning. "AMU-CHAN! WAKE UP!"<p>

"Unh..." Her eyes crept open. "Ran..." She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What are you-?" She gazed at the clock next to her bed. It took a second for her to realize just how late it was. Without saying a word, she jumped out of bed, threw on her uniform, grabbed a piece of toast and an egg of the table shouting "Thanks!" as she ran out the door. She didn't even notice Miki and Su, who were actually keeping pace with her.

She bolted toward the school. _Not again! I can't be late again!_ She thought.

She didn't notice when she flew past Rima, who was also late. "Amu?" She asked, slightly surprised.

The voice startled Amu slightly, and she almost tripped. "Rima?" She said, turning around. "You late too?"

She nodded. KusuKusu peered out from behind her shoulder. "Rima! Come on! We're gonna be late!" She nodded and started running, Amu along behind her.

By a stroke of luck, they made it to class on time. Nikaidou-Sensai walked into the room, tripped, stood up again, and told everyone to be seated. "We have a new transfer student coming today... eventually."

"Another one?" Amu was showing her stubborn side again. At this point, she wasn't starting to mind so much. She guessed she was just used to it. But Rima wasn't amused.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"We've had several students transferring to and from this school. It's starting to get irritating."

"You don't mean that." Ran tugged her sleeve.

Amu sighed. "Okay, fine." She looked up from what she was doing. "What's this guy like, anyway?"

"Didn't Tadase tell you?" Rima replied.

"No..." _And why not?_ She found herself thinking. She didn't really have time to think about it though. Ran, Miki, and Su all, for some reason, started cowering behind her. Dia was the only one who seemed to be fine still. "What's wrong?" She whispered behind her.

She didn't get a response. Amu couldn't be sure, but she could have sworn the temperature dropped 5 degrees when he walked into the room. He had very dark, very short hair and big, aqua-colored eyes. He was fairly tall and was dressed in a dark purple jacket and grey pants with a blue stripe down both sides. On his face he had a vacant expression, completely void of any emotion. She didn't need to consult her shugo charas to feel a small sense of fear toward this guy.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see KusuKusu hiding behind Rima's shoulder. _Who... who is this kid?_ She thought to herself. Dia seemed to be completely calm.

Before anyone could say anything, Tsukasa-kun, the school superintendent, walked in after him. He whispered something in Mr. Nikaido's ear and turned to leave. Before he did, he winked at Amu.

"Okay class, this is Derrick Serosa." Nikaido said. Derrick didn't say anything. He just nodded his head. "You can take your seat next to Hinamori-San." He pointed to the chair next to Amu. Derrick just nodded and went to sit down. His book bag slid off his shoulders and he slumped in the desk, pulled out a book, and just sat there reading.

Dia tapped her shoulder. "Say hi."

"Eh?"

"Go on! He looks like he could use a friend!" Dia's voice was hushed, meaning she wasn't as brave as she appeared to be.

Amu wasn't exactly excited about it, but for some reason, she decided to go along with it. If she could pull of a "Cool & Spicy" character, then she could pull this off too. She turned to face him and put on a smile. "Um... hi." She waited for a response, but didn't get one. He simply looked up from what he was doing and stared into her eyes. "I'm Hinamori Amu." He didn't respond. It was awkward for a moment, and then he simply went back to reading. Amu was relieved that it was over, but was also a little insulted. Why didn't she at least get a reply?

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. It wasn't until after school that Amu's shugo charas decided to come out of hiding. "Well, that was an interesting day." Amu said.

"Yeah..." Ran replied. "That was weird."

"What happened back there, anyway?" Amu asked her 4 shugo charas. "You all seemed like you were really scared of that boy."

"He felt strange." Miki said.

"Care to elaborate?" Amu asked, sarcastically. All her shugo charas exchanged an uneasy glance. "Either way, you all are fine now-" she was interrupted mid-sentence by someone shouting nearby. She didn't understand all of what was said. She turned to see that same boy, standing next to a bench with a phone. She didn't understand most of what he was saying, but he sounded flustered.

He hung up and sighed. For some reason, Amu wanted to go help him. Then she remembered how he simply ignored her earlier. She walked up to him and said "Hey!" It startled him, and he again simply stared into her eyes. It made Amu nervous for some reason. "What was that about earlier?" No response. "You gonna answer me or not?" Still no response.

Dia flew out from behind Amu and the boy changed expression. "Sh... Shugo... Chara?" He said. Ran, Miki, and Su all flew out from behind her to join Dia. That was when they heard another voice, monotone, sounding almost more machine then human.

"Very well. From one who can't to one who can, character change."

On his face appeared a pair of gold-rimmed, square glasses with a small white ? in the upper left of the left lens. He bowed and said "I apologize. I can only speak fluently with a character change." He looked her dead in the eyes again.

"Wha..." For some reason, this startled her. "What do you mean?"

"This isn't my first language. I'm actually having a little trouble with it. That's why I didn't respond when you spoke to me earlier. Sorry about that, miss...?"

"Uh-Amu. Hinamori Amu. And... you're Derrick Serosa, right?"

"Yes, but I suppose here it'd be Serosa Derrick." Several questions all surfaced at once in Amu's head, but before she could ask them Derrick said "You have questions. Not surprising. Come with me." He started walking away, Amu followed.

"First, where are you from exactly?"

"The United States of America." He sounded rather proud. "I suppose that explains my slight accent, eh?"

"Okay. Next, what do you mean you can only speak fluently with a character change? Why didn't you change before?"

A small shugo chara floated out from behind his head. He had the same, neat, short, dark hair as Derrick with big purple eyes and glasses, the same as Derrick had now. He was wearing a business suit with a white tie. He bowed. "I'm Theory." He said.

"Theory basically knows everything there is to know about everything. But he's completely void of emotion. He only goes on logic and facts. That's why right now I have such a monotone voice." Derrick said. "It's a stark contrast to my normal character, and it would definitely be noticed by a lot of people."

"And Theory allows you to...?" Amu asked.

"He speaks seven languages, this being one of them. While character changing, I basically know everything he does."

Amu took a second to take all this in. Her shugo charas were unusually quiet throughout all this. She guessed Derrick still scared them. She stopped suddenly. _Crap!_ She thought. "Um... It was nice meeting you, but I'm late for something." She took off running.

Derrick stopped the character change and walked on, not noticing Theory had left his side.

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><p><strong>Note*<strong> Introductions are always boring. Derrick's character(s) develope(s) as the story is told.


	2. Chara Nari! Technical Prodigy!

**Note* **I should probobly let you know, this isn't the dark part of the story. That comes later.

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><p>"So the new transfer student has a Shugo Chara?" Tadase asked when Amu told them all.<p>

She nodded. She had just made it on time for their meeting in the Royal Garden.

"Does that mean I have more competition?" Rikka asked.

Amu chuckled. "I don't think so."

All her shugo charas floated up to say something. "His shugo chara felt... different." Ran said. "I'm not sure how, but..." They all nodded their agreement.

"Can you be more specific?" Kiseki asked.

"No more then that. Just-" Miki started to say.

She was interrupted by a "WHAT'DYA MEAN DIFFERENT?"

No one recognized the voice. Everyone immediately started looking around for who or what it was. "Over there!" Yaya pointed towards a small bush she saw rustling. Nagihiko and Amu both went over to investigate.

What they found was Theory and a shugo chara they didn't recognize. He looked like an orchestra conductor in a big blue top-hat with music notes on either side.

Once they were all seated again and the two shugo charas were standing center-table, they introduced themselves. "I'm Octave!" The one in the blue top-hat winked at everyone. He had two bright, blue eyes along with a mess of blond hair under his hat. He was wearing a pin-stripe conductor's uniform and big, black boots. "And this bore over here is Theory." Theory didn't even look up. He had pulled out a laptop and was typing something.

Yaya took this situation a little too far. "Why were you spying on us?" She said, leaning in real close to them. Pepe added "Dechu!"

Octave looked startled. "Well..." He looked over at Theory. "Blame him, not me! He made me come along."

"It's not my fault you blew our cover." Theory said back, no emotion in his voice.

"And what were you doing that required you to hide?" Tadase asked.

Octave sighed. "Theory calls it 'gathering intelligence.' Anything he doesn't know about, he studies, and I usually tag along just for the heck of it." He looked around until he saw Amu. "I recognize you!" Amu let out a confused _Eh?_ And Octave said "I was there when you first started talking to us. It's mainly your voice I recognized. I didn't get a very good look at you from where I was." He looked up at her 4 shugo charas. "So what do you mean we feel 'different'?"

All of Amu's shugo exchanged an uneasy glance, but never said anything. They didn't get a chance to anyway. Miki flew up as fast she could to Amu. "Amu-chan! X-Egg!" She said.

"Eh? Now?" She seemed surprised. A lot was happening today, and she was having a hard time following it all. The Guardians all nodded and they headed out, following Miki's directions. They left Theory and Octave behind.

They kept running for a short while until they came to the sports fields. The sky was overcast, lending a gloomy look to the surrounding area. The first thing they noticed was a large cloud of X-eggs hovering in the center of the fields. The immediately got ready to character transform; then they saw what the cloud of X-eggs was looking at.

Derrick stood resolute, staring at the X-egg cloud with what looked like defiance. Amu shouted "Serosa-kun! Get back!"

He just held up a hand without looking away from the cloud. "Let a professional handle this."

"Prof..." She started saying. Theory and Octave both blew past her head and took their place by Derrick's side.

"Theory." He looked at Theory, who only nodded. "Steel no Kokoro (Heart of steel), Unlock!"

He was dressed in a mechanical, metallic suit, not bulky but large. His feet were covered in a pair of big black boots. A small screen was in front of his left eye, attached to an ear-piece with an antenna sticking out of it. Over his mouth was a vented plate. His skin had gone pale, and his expression vanished. A huge black pack of some kind was connected to his suit on his back. Amu seemed to feel the air around get suddenly colder. Everyone stared in shock at what he was holding: A huge, menacing scythe whose blade shown electric blue in the half-light. Unlike Death Rebel's scythe, this one was very geometric, a clear distinction between the blade and the handle.

"Chara Nari! Technical Prodigy!"

He did not hesitate. "Warpspeed." The voice was completely hollow and metallic, as though said by a machine. Everyone stared as he went to work. His speed was amazing, and he circled around the X-eggs more times then anyone could count. Yaya started to sway from side to side, obviously dizzy. Once the X-eggs were rounded in one place, he stopped and immediately said "Static Cling" Lines of electricity shot through the cloud of X-eggs, jumping from one to another, holding them in place.

Always, X-eggs were looked upon as devious and evil, but the Guardians found this to be true of Technical Prodigy. The X-eggs seemed to scream in pain as every bounce of the electricity hit them. Each time one tried to move, sparks flew and it screamed, unable to escape. Derrick left them this way for a moment, then faced his scythe toward the X-eggs. The blade rotated until it was facing them, and a few minor shifts in various wires and plates could be seen in the handle.

"X Extraction."

At this, the obvious torment of these X-eggs became ever clearer. _What... what is he doing? Not even they deserve that!_ Amu wanted to say, but she couldn't. She was speechless, unable to move. She let out a breath she realized she'd been holding in. A quick glance at Rikka showed that she was the most affected by this. There were tears in her eyes.

The electricity in the cloud pulsed frequently, and with every pulse the X-eggs pain grew, until finally... _RIP!_ The X and even black coloring was torn off the X-eggs to be absorbed into the scythe blade, which no longer glowed electric blue, but a ruddy red. With every X that was ripped off, the egg it occupied returned to normal. The electricity dissipated, and hearts' eggs took off as fast as they could, never looking back.

Derrick didn't say anything. He shoved the scythe blade behind his back into the top of the pack he had there. A small meter on the pack seemed to go up slightly, and when the scythe was removed, the blade was clean and glowed yet again with a faint blue light.

Rikka took off, crying, unable to bear the sight any longer.


	3. I call it 'Negative Energy'

**Note* **Now frm Derrick's POV. I won't warn you with every POV switch.

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><p><em>Honestly, these kids don't know what they're dealing with. If they ever want to even dream of helping me, I have to harden them for war. This has to be the first step I suppose. Casualties are inevitable. They need to learn that.<em>

Octave tapped Derrick's shoulder. "They left." He pointed to where the Guardians were previously standing. They vanished. "Should we follow them?"

"If we ever want to ask them for help, we need to show them we trust them."

"Do we?" Theory asked.

"Not yet. It will take a while before we can." Derrick sighed. "Besides, if we can't harden them enough for what's coming soon, they'll most likely be killed or worse." He looked down at the silver colored cylinder in his hands. A small window on one side revealed a shifting purple and black mass inside. He started off in the direction he believed the Guardians most likely went. "Where do they usually meet?"

"A place called the Royal Garden. It's off in the back of the school." Theory replied.

"Huge glass dome looking thing. Can't miss it." Octave added.

Derrick nodded. He started walking toward the back of the school, Theory and Octave followed.

The air was cool and slightly humid in the Royal Garden when he walked in. Plants lined the walls on either side, and in front of him a small stream ran. The Guardians seemed to notice the door open, because he saw Nagihiko and Rima standing at the top of a flight of stairs, staring down at him. Behind them he could vaguely make out Amu and Tadase trying to comfort Rikka, who was still crying. _That will be a problem._ Derrick thought.

"What do you want?" Nagihiko almost snapped.

"I request that you'll allow me to explain myself." He replied, staying calm and collected. He had character changed with Theory so that he could speak fluently for the time being. "There is something you need to know; something of immense importance." It's all he needed to say. They seemed to understand. Derrick walked up and immediately Rikka took off in the other direction. The sound of the door to the garden closing was unusually loud as she left. Everyone was staring at him with a look of obvious anger, but also slight curiosity. Curiosity, he knew, that would be their undoing in the end.

All he did was simply place the cylinder in the table and say "I call it 'Negative Energy'." No one said anything. "You all better have a seat. I have a lot to tell you."

Once everyone was seated, he began.

"What makes an X egg an X egg? It's a question I had to ask myself a while ago, and the answer is sitting on the table in front of you." Everyone's eyes shifted to the cylinder. "Biologically, creatures and plants produce energy and other substances. Hearts' Eggs do that as well. When one gives up on their dreams or future, their Heart's Egg's response is to start producing this substance here; Negative Energy." Ordinarily. This is simply filtered out of the body and no mind is paid to it, however if the energy buildup becomes high enough, the egg becomes an X egg." Everyone took a moment to take that in.

Amu spoke up at that moment. "How does this affect us at all?"

"What happens when Negative Energy is poured into an egg that already has an X on it?" He asked Amu. She didn't answer. "That is the problem. People who give up on their dreams or would-be-selves place an X on their eggs, but what happens when that goes deeper? When one gives up on life and truly believes the world would be better off without them?" Everyone's eyes widened. "You'll have to face it sometime or other. When someone starts having suicidal or equivalent thoughts, their egg becomes a Negative Egg." Everyone gasped slightly. "Negative eggs differ from X eggs in the sense that they don't seem to affect their environment at all. They only wish to cause harm to their owner. Once one has a Negative Egg, only some outside force can save them."

"Why?" Rima had tears in her eyes and almost shouted at Derrick. "Why are you telling us this?"

"This isn't even the worst of it. As for why I'm telling you, I'll explain that later."

"Not good enough."

Theory flew up to her. "It has to be." Is all he said. Rima nodded, but the expression of disgust never left her face.

"As I was saying; this is the worst one can do to oneself. Heart's Eggs cannot produce more Negative Energy when it reaches this stage." He paused for a moment and picked up the cylinder. "You all know it's possible to force Negative Energy into someone, right?" Everyone gasped again. "Easter did it for quite a while. Nikaido placed Xs on several peoples' eggs. Utau put Xs on dozens more, and Ikuto caused hundreds if not thousands to become X eggs."

"Shut up!" Amu shouted, standing up. "You have no right to say that!" She was rather passionate about it."

"I understand that now they are on your side and that Easter is no longer doing this, but the fact they used to remains undeniable. Nikaido and Utau both forced the eggs to start producing large amounts of Negative Energy to achieve the result, but Ikuto was different. He used Negative Energy from within the Violin and poured that into people's eggs.

"So I ask you all, what would have happened if it was carried farther then that?" No one wanted to think about it, Derrick could tell. Surprisingly, Yaya was the first to speak up. "They'd... become Negative Eggs... right?" She sounded somber, as though she didn't want to answer the question. She was surprised when Derrick shook his head. "But you said a Heart's Egg can't go beyond that!"

"Not on its own." Derrick replied. "But it's still possible if someone artificially inserts more then a heart's egg can handle. That's when a Void Egg is born." No one gasped this time. Apparently, they were already worn out simply from listening to Derrick. "A void egg is an unnatural... thing. It was never meant to exist, or even to be known about. It is in every respect a crime against nature. A grotesque, twisted Egg that exists to bring misery to every soul within a 10 mile radius. The owner of a Void Egg is constantly in great pain. Their suffering is immeasurable..."

Derrick started to tear up slightly. Theory nudged him in the shoulder, and he blinked and regained control of his emotions. "That's when the Heart's self-defense mechanism kicks in." Everyone blinked at that statement. "Every Heart's Egg has a built in defense against Void Eggs. As soon as the level of Negative Energy simply becomes too much for it to bear, it shoots out every single drop of the energy, leaving behind a perfectly clean, normal egg."

"So... what's the problem?" Tadase asked.

"Where does the energy go?" Derrick replied. He didn't know why, but he was starting to get frustrated. His voice was raised slightly. "It simply doesn't disappear. All the energy that's shot out collects, and the Void Egg remains, though it no longer has a Heart's Egg to torture. It turns into..." He choked on the word. "...a mirror."

"Mirror?" Amu asked.

"It becomes an exact copy of whoever it was originally part of, though they look completely reversed, as though they were looking in a mirror. Mirrors simply have to know you exist to turn your egg into an X egg. They are a destructive force with no mind of their own." He paused. "What I've just told you isn't even the worst of it."

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><p><strong>Note*<strong> Criticism is more then welcome. I know it's not the best story in the world, but it did just start. There's much, much more.


	4. His name is Specter

**Note* **I'm lazy, so the story probobly won't be updated to often. I apologize in adavance for any long periods without any updates. I also get distracted easily, so if I start another story, I might drop this one for a short while.

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><p>"Okay..." Nagihiko said. "So basically, we're dealing with things that look like humans, but in reality, are Void Eggs which have taken the form of whoever it used to belong to?" Derrick nodded. "And these Mirrors can instantly create X Eggs from anyone within a 10 mile radius."<p>

"Is it possible to resist them?" Ran asked.

"Are we safe at all?" Kusukusu added. Amu sympathized with their concerns. If these Mirrors were as strong as Derrick made them out to be... She too feared what would happen to her charas.

"Yes and no..." Derrick stared off to the side. Dia flew up beside him and smiled. That seemed to comfort him somehow. "It is possible to prevent your egg from becoming an X Egg, but you have to know that what you're going up against is a Mirror, and you have to know who it used to belong to. On top of that, if the Mirror knows that _you_ know it's a mirror, it will pour even greater amounts of Negative Energy into you."

"Complicated." Yaya said. Her eyes were drooping at this point, and Amu could tell she was getting bored and tired. Pepe wasn't helping; she had already fallen asleep. Everyone who was still awake looked fairly scared.

"I have developed a defense against it, however." Derrick continued. "However, there's no need to reveal it at this time. In fact, I prey you never have to know what I've found out..." He trailed off and looked at Theory and Octave, who both just shook their heads.

"One thing still escapes me." Rima spoke up. She seemed to revert back to her detached, emotionless state she was in when they first met her. "Who is it creating the Void Eggs? You still haven't told us that."

Derrick leaned back in his chair. "His name is Specter."

"Specter?" Amu asked. "As in 'ghost'?"

"I suppose so." Derrick replied. "He doesn't have a name per say, I simply have nothing else to call him. He is a humanoid form, but he can't possibly be human with what he does. He is the one who creates the Void Eggs. However, our only advantage is that he can only create one at a time. As for his ultimate goal, I believe it's the same as all of ours."

"And what's that?" Tadase asked.

"Find the Embryo. What else?" He stood up and grabbed the cylinder. "Alright, that's it for now."

"One last question... before you go." Amu spoke up. There was just one thing she had to know. Derrick stopped and looked back. "What... what happens when I purify an X Egg? And what is X Extraction?"

He turned back. "X Extraction speaks for itself. It removes the Negative Energy from an egg and absorbs it into the scythe, and from there I place it in my storage tank. When I finish the transformation, it's replaced with this cylinder. As for when you purify them, the Negative Energy simply vanishes." He dropped his head. "I can't do that. X Extraction is a skill I developed myself. It's the only way I can combat X Eggs." He walked out, and the sound of the door closing echoed briefly as he left.

"What now?" Rhythm asked.

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><p><strong>Note*<strong> I know this part was fairly short. Really I was wrapping up the previous chapter. There's much more still, I promise.


	5. It was fate!

**Note*** I apologize for the very, very long wait. Laziness + Writer's Block = Not the best combination. Anyway, here's the next part. I know it's not the best story in the world, but it's still going.

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><p>"And why would I do that?" Amu asked Miki. "It seems like a lousy way to waste my weekend. Besides, I already have plans, remember?"<p>

It was the day after they learned about Specter, the Negative Energy, and Derrick's unusual ability. It was warm and sunny, and Tadase had called and asked if Amu wanted to go to the theme park for the afternoon. She happily agreed, and was on her way as they all spoke.

"It seems we need to get to know him a little better." Miki complained.

"I don't care. He can do things his own way." _I'm not even sure I believe him to be honest._ Amu thought to herself. _It's just too crazy. He can't be right._ All her shugo charas flew behind her, and she could vaguely hear them whispering something. "What are you guys talking about back there?" She asked.

They all flew in front of her, and she stopped walking. "We agree with Miki." Su said. Everyone nodded. "It would be a good idea to get to know Serosa-kun before judging him."

Amu sighed. "Fine. I'll go see him later tonight." A rumble in her pocket startled slightly. She checked her phone. "A message from Tadase-kun?"

[Emergency came up. Can't make it today. Sorry.] Is all it said.

"Well, I guess we can go see Serosa-kun now." Amu said, slightly annoyed. "Does anyone happen to know where he lives?" She didn't need an answer. Just at that moment, someone ran into her from the side. There was confusion for a moment, and when both people were balanced again, she looked at who it was she bumped into angrily. Only when she realized it was Derrick did she start to feel confused.

"It was fate!" Miki said.

Amu ignored her. "Watch where you're going." Is the first thing she said to him.

"Sorry." He said. "I get distracted easily."

"Just be more careful next-" she paused for a second. "You're not character changing with Theory."

"Yeah, I guess I'm not." He looked her in the eye. "I said I was struggling, but I still pick up concepts fairly quickly. Just, try not to talk so fast." He smiled. "At least I can hold a conversation." Theory and Octave both flew out from behind him. Theory whispered something in his ear. "Oh yeah. Have you seen or heard of anyone new around here aside from me?" Amu shook her head, as did all her shugo charas. "Good. Then there's still time." He turned around and started walking away.

"Serosa-kun!" Su called back. Derrick stopped and turned around. "Can we talk to you for a minute?" Amu gave Su a funny look, but didn't say anything.

Derrick smiled again. "Walk with me." He said, and kept going. Amu ran to catch up with him. "What's on your mind?" He folded his arms. Even without Theory, he still seemed to try and hide his emotions as best he could, though he was much more open.

Amu looked down. "What..." She tried to figure out how to put this. Dia tapped her on the shoulder and smiled. "What exactly is it you want from us?" She asked. "I mean, it's obvious you need us for something, but what is it? And what did you mean 'professional' before?"

Derrick looked down. "I've got a complicated past, to say the least. The important details I suppose would be this; my archenemy is Specter and my one goal is to destroy him. I know I can, but I haven't found the proper way yet. As for when I said 'professional,' I guess you could say it's because of my experience." He looked up. "Those X Eggs before were mere child's play. You have no idea the power my enemy commands." Tears started to form in his eyes, but he refused to let them come forward further then that. "Can I ask you a question?" Amu was startled a bit, but nodded. "Mistakes can be corrected, no matter how bad they were, right?"

Amu wasn't sure how to respond. "I don't see why not."

Derrick looked back down. "Good."

Amu thought up another question that had been nagging her for a while. "How do you dispose of the Negative Energy?"

Derrick stopped walking. "Dispose of it?" She didn't respond. "You'd better come inside." He turned and walked up to a house they had walked up to. Amu didn't realize it, but Derrick must have been walking home when they bumped into each other.

"This all seems a little too convenient." She mumbled.

"But it's fun!" Was Ran's immediate response. Amu sighed and followed Derrick inside.

The house was small, and the walls inside were a deep blue color. "Aren't your parents home?"

"Not right now. Either way, they wouldn't notice even if they were. They're rather distracted. I guess that's where I get my own spacey-ness." He chuckled. "Come up to my room and I'll show you something."

Amu was a little nervous, but followed anyway. She wanted to know more about everything that had happened the past day. When they reached his room, the first thing she noticed was a desk against the wall with a computer on it. From the computer, wires and buttons and things Amu didn't even recognize protruded. There were two monitors, and the desk was covered with papers. Three empty cylinders like the ones Derrick had before were lying on the desk. The walls were still blue, but much darker. A grand piano was tucked in a corner. The last thing she noticed was the huge machine hooked up to the computer. She didn't recognize it at all. "It's my own creation." Derrick said when he noticed Amu see it. "It allows me to store, analyze, and experiment with Negative Energy."

It took Amu a moment to process that statement. "You _built_ this thing?" Everything about this foreign transfer student surprised her. It was a large, white, metal cube with several screens and buttons attached to it. Through a small window on the side, she could make out writhing silhouette of the Negative Energy inside. It made her shudder.

She was just about to ask Derrick what he was planning to do with it when Dia spoke up. "What's this?" She asked. Everyone moved toward her to see what she meant. A small metallic booth with a pillow inside held something nobody expected: an egg. It was covered in a military-camouflage design, and a large white Ð on the front. "Who does this belong to?"

Derrick sat down on his bed. "Me." He said. His voice quivered slightly. "I've had it for about two years now. I honestly think it's a dud." Amu felt a sharp pang in her heart. _That's so sad._ She thought. "I thought I saw it twitch once or twice, but I think it was just my imagination." She got the sudden urge to change the subject.

"What are you planning on doing with the Negative Energy?"

Derrick seemed to brighten instantly. "I'm glad you asked." He stood up and sat down at his desk. "First, are you any good at thinking like a scientist?" She didn't understand the question. "Nevermind. Just let me know if I'm going to fast.

"Like everything else, Negative Energy can be measured, there just aren't any measurements preset because, well, I discovered it. I measure it in units E. With Theory's help, I've assigned the average amount of Negative Energy needed to change one egg into an X egg to 1E." He picked up a cylinder, attached it to a slot on the side of the machine, and flicked a switch. The small window on the side of the canister filled up with the dark, writhing silhouette. "Here." He tossed it to Amu. "That is 1E, enough to turn someone's heart's egg into an X egg." Amu handled as though it were a bomb that might go off. "You can relax, you know. Once an egg hatches into a shugo chara, the Negative Energy required to even force back in is substantially greater, about 4E. Plus, you're stronger than most, so even 4E wouldn't be very harmful to you, I'm sure." He looked over at his computer screen and started typing. "To put things in perspective, a Negative Egg is born at about 50E, and a Void Egg at 300E. A heart's egg can only naturally produce about 55E at the most, which is why Void Eggs cause so much pain to their bearers."

"You still haven't told us what you do with all this." Miki said. Amu could see Derrick was losing her shugo charas. Ran had wandered off and had clearly stopped listening and Su and Dia were half-asleep. Miki seemed to be the only one, aside from Amu, still paying attention.

"I'm getting to that. I've come up with a theory that this Negative Energy can be converted into an opposite substance, that I call, for lack of a better term, Positive Energy." He paused and looked at Theory. "We're so close, we can almost taste it, but we simply can't get any of this Negative Energy to convert over."

"What would you do with this Positive Energy?" Amu asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

"I believe it can be weaponized and used to fight Specter and the Mirrors."


	6. We'll find a solution

**Note*** I'm doing my best, but I'm just not a good story teller. I'm glad if you've stayed with me this long. Please put up with my lack of story telling skills for a bit longer. It's the content that matters to me.

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><p><em>You need to share your research with the Guardians.<em> She said. _It's important for them to know._ She said. _Don't worry, they'll be understanding!_ She said.

_Boy was she wrong._ Derrick thought to himself. Amu had insisted that he share his research with the rest of the Guardians. Derrick had tried to explain that things like this are a kind of taboo, and that they wouldn't understand the importance of what he was trying to do. Of course, as stubborn as Amu is, she had managed to get him to agree. The problem was that all the Guardians seemed to agree that Derrick needed to put a stop to what he was doing.

"Observation shows that Negative Energy is compressible and has a natural tendency to expand and fill its container. I believe that's why X Eggs are so interested in their environment. Our theory is that Positive Energy, if it can, in fact, exist, would have the opposite affect, and have a natural tendency to compress itself." He looked at Theory, who continued for him.

"My calculations show that it would take approximately 500E of Negative Energy to synthesize 1E of Positive Energy. The process is complicated, to say the least, and we're missing one valuable data point that we cannot continue forward without." He looked up from his laptop screen. "It would be in everyone's best interest to allow us to continue unimpeded."

"So what you're saying you've found a way to use Negative Energy against the X eggs?" Nagihiko asked.

"Basically, yes." Derrick said.

"There must be a way to settle this without resorting to weapons." Tadase said. "We'll find a solution."

_This is exactly the problem._ His vision suddenly became much sharper, his voice lost all tone, and he could vaguely see the rim of the glasses as they appeared on his face. "Come with me." He got up and started walking out of the Royal garden. "All of you."

Everyone exchanged an uneasy glance, but followed. When they were all outside, Derrick looked toward the crowd. "Everyone. Character Transform. Whoever you're strongest with."

"Why?" Rima asked. "What's the point?"

"You're going to have to trust me." Is all he said. And so, everyone did as they were told.

"Chara Nari! Platinum Royale!"

"Chara Nari! Beat Jumper!"

"Chara Nari! Clown Drop!"

"Chara Nari! Dear Baby!"

"Chara Nari! Amulet Heart!"

Everyone stared as they awaited further instructions. "Octave." Is all Derrick said. Octave did a small cheer and flew up beside his bearer.

He basically looked like a larger version of Octave; the same blue & white pin-stripe suit, the same blue top hat with music notes on either side, the same black combat boots, and one white glove on one hand. In that hand was a very long, metal rod. "Chara Nari! Musical Prodigy!"

Derrick smiled. "Alright, come at me!" He almost shouted. Everyone gasped slightly. "Come on! Give me your best shot!" He had a menacing grin on his face. He genuinely looked like he was insanely happy, emphasis on _insane_.

Nagihiko was the first to try. "Blaze Shot!" The glowing ball appeared and shot forward. It came within 1 foot of Derrick, then simply slowed, and was redirected in another direction. Derrick laughed.

"Is that the best you've got?" He shouted. After a few minutes of no one doing anything, he sighed. Alright, let's try defense. He raised his staff. "No rules; just do whatever you can to dodge. It's every man for himself, for work with or against each other as you see fit." He closed his eyes. _Let's rock._ Octave's voice said in Derrick's head. "Deep Tone." He said. After that, it was like the shockwave of an explosion. A wave of pure sound wave energy blasted into them. Once they all recovered and could hear again, they noticed that their character transformations had ended. Their shugo charas were literally blasted out of them. Derrick frowned. "Honestly, if you can't even find a way around _that_ move, you'll never fare against _any_ Mirrors!" He stormed up to them. "If you want to survive, you'll have to stay alert. Specter will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. You're all nothing but obstacles to him." He paused and blinked. _I know I'm being over emotional, but it's not my fault. Octave's doing it._ A voice screamed inside his head _HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT? I'M NOT OVER EMOTIONAL!_

Amu was the first to say anything. "And how does this help?"

Derrick chuckled. "I'm simulating what happens when you go against a Mirror. They shield themselves in a shell of X Eggs and have the ability to stop your character transformation. You'll need a lot more skill if you ever want to defeat this threat.

"I still don't understand why you got us involved in the first place!" Rima shouted.

That was when they all noticed someone walking toward them. Her eyes were slightly vacant, and she had short, red hair. "Rikka-" Amu started to say.

Derrick shoved his staff in front of her. "That's why." Rikka just smiled. She didn't say anything. "Everyone, it's time for your first test." Rikka gave a confused look. "Don't be fooled." He made a whipping motion with his staff, and another solid wave of sound floated toward her. As it went through her, her entire body went black and slightly amorphous.

The Mirror smiled, and a cloud of X Eggs surrounded her.

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><p><strong>Note*<strong> Cliffhanger ftw.


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